Prologue I - Run Rabbit Run

It tore through them, Caelan. I need more.

Are there any survivors? Is it following you, Evander?

There couldn’t be survivors. I didn’t stop to look, but last I saw, it had its elongated arm deep in Halstrem’s chest.

The creature’s sunken eyes burn in my mind. I try not to let the image bleed into Caelen. Our link shares the worst things at the worst times.

He needs to focus.

Our dangers in the Overworld and Alterworld are starkly different.

Memory hauls up the Hubris’ tight-lipped clicking, a harsh snap raising gooseflesh. We shouldn’t have grafted its mouth shut. Its keen eyes turned brutal as it split its flesh and howled a gurgling cry.

The memory of the facility makes me gag. I don’t have time to stop. It could catch up in a stride. Its abnormal limbs are more powerful than most alters. I’d ponder the irony of Project Hubris, but bile rises in my throat. I force myself back to the present, streets unfamiliar as I run.

Evander, you must keep running.

I spit, clearing the lingering taste of vomit.

I hear the clicking again. This time it’s beyond memory.

My skin crawls. The horror spreads like thousands of insects beneath my skin.

I catch the slightest flicker of stained flesh, a blur of crimson.

I shift, Caelen wincing as I tip further. Our scales adjust as my body fills with Caelen’s soul.

I blow through the docks, away from the chaotic memory and into Afterlight’s bustling outskirts, passing piers and side streets almost too fast to see.

I sag as energy wanes near the city limits, but push on, using Caelen’s easing to keep moving. The scales will stay unbalanced; neither of us has shifted this much before.

Another wet snap sounds closer than expected. I continue to run.

***

My lungs burn as I leap the Weir canal. My ankles groan as I overshoot.

The streets glow dim blue with Overworld souls.

I veer left to the southern warrens, weaving through narrow alleys and crowded duplexes.

Can you still see it? Evander?

Caelan taps his foot, fear feeding his frustration. The bouncing rhythm disrupts my focus and stride.

I wouldn’t see it. I’d be dead. The drive is safe, and so am I…

For now.

I clip a hedge rounding a corner. I try to throw it off my trail. Overcorrecting, I graze weathered brick, distracted by Caelan’s nervous energy.

Caelan, go for a stroll to calm your nerves. You’re distracting me. I’ve never tipped this much. I need to concentrate.

I’m met with a scolding reply, without a word said.

I’ll be able to lose it here. The Warrens will hide me.

I fly past windows. My blurred reflection, unfamiliar, invigorating.

Grout, clay, stone: scents jumble. They overwhelm my enhanced senses.

I hit a narrow street, slowing as the chaos of the chase gives way to the cluster of shoebox dwellings and a small central village. Water splashes from a crumbling fountain, flowing through a statue of an Overworld figure.

A silhouette flashes at my periphery. My gut seizes, knowing my last moments have come, with my task unfinished.

Searching, I find nothing and sigh. My diaphragm relaxes.

A booming crash tenses me again. Crunching walls echo from the Canal. I stay rooted in dumbstruck inevitability.

What’s going on, Evander? My heart’s trying to beat out of my chest.

As I try to reply, a second crash follows, closer. Instinct takes over.

I move.

I take a direct route to the delivery. My pounding heart answers for me.

I take two bounds, using the walls as springboards to the roofs. My muscles burn from the sustained shifting.

Atop the Weir-view Townhouses, I scan for Afterlight’s most conspicuous building.

The Luxis Hotel looms.

It was once a hotspot for Alters. Now it’s my meeting place with the Circuitors.

At its peak, a flickering light signals I’m closer to delivering the drive.

A third explosion erupts behind me, followed by two distinct clicks like popping gum.

Caelan, I can see the Penthouse. The Hubris is gaining, though.

Evander, pick up the pace. The quicker we get this to the Circuitors, the quicker we will be under their protection.

Don’t need to tell me twice.

I tip deeper. Warmth suffuses my muscles. Invigorated, I ignore fatigue, even as Caelan falters. I hop, prepping myself. Caelan usually shifts more power; I’m not used to it.

I leap, wind howling as I soar across an entire block. My arc ends abruptly, and I slam into old roof tiles, arms windmilling. The slate barely holds.

“Whoa.”

The rush is short-lived, as another crash reverberates through the city. My now distant hunter continues its path of destruction.

I plan my next leap. Mind and limbs align as I close the distance, leaving rooftop craters behind.

You are burning too much!

You told me to pick up the pace.

Destruction follows. Cracking snaps like grounded lightning signalling it’s reached the Inner-Warrens.

Yes, because we know what it’s capable of, Evander. Don’t discredit their cunning just because they’re displaying brute strength.

I nod and focus, clenching my hands to avoid flinching at the prowling noises behind me.

I squat on a weathered ledge, across from the Luxis Hotel entrance, flooded by the harsh light of their glaring sign. I scan the lobby windows, entrance, and adjacent alcoves for the grey and gold Circuitor uniform.

Nothing.

No contact, no alters in sight. The streets and thoroughfares stand vacant, stripped of the usual blue shimmer of Overworld life.

“They have to be inside.”

There’s no one here.

They’ll be upstairs in the room, as discussed in the plan. Hurry up, that thing will sniff you out soon enough.

It smells like rain out here; my scent will go soon enough. The elevators will take too long; I can climb up a set of balconies instead.

Caelan is distracted. I feel his attention drift through the link.

I’ll see it done, Caelan. I’ve got this.

A chill forms in my stomach, knowing Caelan can feel my tension.

I sigh.

“Best to say something before his mind runs away with it.”

Caelan, are you able to get to a safe place during the delivery?

Another reminder sounds off behind me, much closer now.

I again rub my legs and hop on the spot, preparing for the next jump.

I’ll be okay, I’m in a public space, they can’t just grab me here.

Typical of Caelan to downplay his situation. My body hums with his adrenaline through our link. He’s already in trouble.

Evander.

A lead weight settles on my chest as Caelan’s tone wavers.

We’re complicit. We know its capabilities. If we fail…

As Caelan speaks, I can’t help myself. I look back, scanning the rooftops.

Nothing.

Its hollow eyes reappear in my mind, sharp and full of rage. It can’t be the same creation. The intellect remained, but not that resentment; it can’t be mine.

We will fix this. The Circuitors will know what to do. They handle unsealed; to them, the Hubris is nothing.

I send the best reassurance I can as I reach for the scales and shift the last of Caelan’s ease.

I jump.

I clear the gap but miscalculate the trajectory.

Legs and steel clang as the balcony railing hums my failure.

Air bursts from my lungs as my arm screams, scrambling to catch my falling body’s weight.

My shoulder pops and dislocates. Pain shoots up my arm and back like lightning. I swing my other arm, grabbing the railing before my grip slips.

I hang there for a moment, gasping like a fish out of water.

I felt that! What the hell are you doing?

Just a rough jump, but I’m deeming this an emergency.

Much more shifting and I’ll need someone to wheel me around. Evander, please be careful.

Caelan reduces the scales, the tax of surpassing the Lightening threshold immediately evident in his diminishing clarity in our link.

Power surrounds me like a warm embrace. The pain and Caelan become afterthoughts as doubt flees my mind.

I rotate my dislocated shoulder, and relief washes over me as I feel it reconnect.

My muscles knot in anticipation as I gauge the climb ahead.

CRASH.

My relief retreats. My pursuer announces its presence from across the insignificant gap I’d just cleared.

It caught up.